would've just resigned.
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I shoved the stuff the desk clerk had handed me into my back pocket and strode outside. I
needed to do something concrete. Something to bring me back to myself. So I phoned my
sister.
"Evie?"
"Oh, Jaz, I'm so glad you called."
"You sound tired."
"I am. E.J. has hardly stopped crying all day. This doesn't seem right, does it?"
Hell no! But then I'm the least qualified to say. "Did you call the pediatrician?"
"No. I know he'll just say it's that colic." Her voice started to shake. "I just feel like such a
terrible mother that I can't make her stop crying!"
Now here was something I could deal with. "Evie, you are an awesome mother. This I can
tell you from experience. I've seen you in action. Plus I have had a crappy mother. So I
know whereof I speak. You rock. I know it's tough on you guys having a baby who cries
all the time. The lack of sleep alone is probably making you a little crazy. I know I'm still
kinda grouchy and I've only been gone, what, a couple of days? But listen, you will figure
this out, okay?"
Big pause. "O-kay."
"Did I say something wrong?"
"It's just& usually you tell me what to do. Then I do it, and things get better."
"That was before you started playing out of my league," I said, smiling when I heard her
soft laughter. "Just& trust yourself, okay? You and Tim know E.J. better than anybody,
including the pediatrician. And get some sleep, would you? You're going to have bags
under your eyes you'll be able to store your winter clothes in."
"Okay. How are things going with you?"
Well, let's see. I think my vampire boss should pose for his own calendar and I'm having
a crazy-daisy relapse. Otherwise "I'm doing okay. Call me when you can, okay?"
"Okay. Love you."
"Love you too."
Feeling somewhat rebalanced now I'd touched base with the most stable person I knew, I
walked around to the back of the building, which faced the festival site. As I wound my
way through the first tier of cars in the parking lot, a green glow near some fencing that
disguised a large garbage bin distracted me from my inner teeth-gnashing. It didn't mesh
with the white of the lot lights. I drew Grief and chambered a round. The glow brightened,
changing color from pine needles to ripe limes.
I closed my eyes tight for a couple of seconds, activating the night vision contacts
Bergman had designed for me. They combined with my Sensitivy-upgraded sight to show
me a greenish-gold figure standing beside the fence. It faced me, but leaned over every
few seconds, fully engrossed in whatever lay at its feet. Oddly, a black frame surrounded
it, as if someone had outlined it with a Sharpie.
I moved closer, sliding past the dark hulks of parked vehicles, taking quick glances every
few steps, trying to identify the thing on the ground that acted as both the source of the
green glow and the subject of the outlined figure's interest. When I finally caught a glance,
I bit my lip to keep from gasping. It was the body of the security guard, the one who'd
been hanging out with the two-faced man. His face, a twisted photo of his last tortured
moments, warned me not to look any further. But I had to. One of the suckier parts of my
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job.
Okay, enough with the procrastinating. You're at a possible murder scene with a
potential suspect. Look at the body already.
Blood, everywhere, as if someone had tapped a geyser. Exposed ribs. Dark, glistening
organs. Someone had ripped this guy's chest open from neck to navel! The smell, damn,
you just never get used to it. And thank God we were outside, otherwise I'd be puking like
a bulimic after an Oreo cookie binge. Above it all hovered a jeweled cloud I could only
think of as his soul. I wanted to regard it as untouched. The one part of the man his
murderer could not soil. But I couldn't. Because this is what had his killer's attention.
No doubt, the one who'd taken his life stood right next to him still, and had been all day, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]